Later in the common room, Harry looked around to make sure he couldn't
be overheard, then told Ron and Hermione about his talk with Sirius. They
listened intently, but when he had finished describing the conversation,
they didn't seem to know what to say in response. It was then that all
three of them realized that, even though Cedric's death served as a
reminder of the reality of what had happened last term, they had begun to
think of Voldemort as a memory rather than a real threat. Now Sirius had
confirmed that the events Harry was dreaming about were in fact real. Voldemort was real. He was planning something, and no one knew what it
was. This unsettled them.
After an uncomfortable pause, Hermione changed the subject. "Don't
forget about tomorrow afternoon. The gray robes and all."
Harry had nearly forgotten. In their last Defense Against the Dark Arts
class, Professor Green had announced that they had gleaned all they could
from books, and were ready to begin practical lessons.
So after lunch the next day, the Gryffindor fifth-years changed into
their gray robes and met Professor Green on the lawn in front of the
castle. She was waiting for them, though Harry noticed that Sirius was
absent. The day was overcast, and the wind blew the clouds along
overhead at a brisk pace.
"We'll head down to the Quidditch pitch, I think," she said once the
class had gathered. They followed her across the grounds to the middle of
the field, where she arranged them into two rows, and turned to face
them.
"Now, you've got a good grounding in the principles of self-defense,"
she began, "but putting them into practice is another thing entirely. Who
can tell me," she said, looking around at them all, "the first rule for
defending yourself--the first thing I taught you in our first class? Miss
Brown!"
Lavender Brown, who had been whispering to Parvati Patil, suddenly
looked up at Professor Green, startled.
"I need you to focus, Miss Brown." Lavender nodded apologetically. "Well then? Who can tell me?"
Harry wracked his brain, trying to remember what he'd written down in
the previous class periods. It all seemed so remote now that he was
standing out here, with the wind in his face and the withering autumn
grass under his feet. In front of him, Hermione's hand went up--but, to
her right, so did Neville's.
"Neville?" Professor Green asked. "What's the first rule for protecting
yourself against an attack by a Dark wizard?"
Neville smiled sheepishly. "R-run away," he said hoarsely. The other
students laughed.
"That's right! Thank you, Neville. Five points to Gryffindor." Professor Green nodded toward him, and Neville went pink. "You want to
get away if you can. Only fight back if you're cornered. Some of us know
this by intuition--" she shot Harry the quickest of glances "--and some of
us lose our wits under pressure, and forget that the first rule of fighting
is to avoid the fight altogether. I'm afraid that's not something I can give
you practical lessons on, however. So don't forget it."
They spent the rest of the class period learning blocks, punches, and
kicks. These were much less exciting than Ron and Harry had hoped, since
they were done very slowly, so that Professor Green could make sure
everyone had the proper form.
"Don't worry," she said to Ron as she corrected his right hook, "you'll
be sparring in a few weeks. And then you'll wish you were back here,
throwing punches into the air and not being hit in return." But as soon as
her back was turned Ron gave Harry an excited grin that said he couldn't
wait to flip Harry flat onto his back.
But October turned into November, and still they hadn't begun sparring.
"What's she waiting for?" Ron said one Saturday morning at breakfast.
"Maybe she's waiting for Neville to catch up to everyone else," Harry
answered. Poor Neville had never failed to injure himself in a practical
Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, even though his only opponent was
himself.
Ron groaned. "If that's the case, we'll never get to fight."
"Well, we've got to get the proper form first, haven't we?" Hermione
chimed in, not taking her eyes off her Daily Prophet. "Professor
Green said it's got to be second nature. You wouldn't have time to think
about it in a real fight."
"I suppose so." Ron thought for a second. "Hermione, what are you
going to buy in Hogsmeade today?" He winked at Harry mischievously.
"Well, I need to buy some ink and parchment, and then I thought I'd--Oh
no, you don't!" She put the paper down and scowled across the table at
Ron. "If you want to find out what I'm getting you for Christmas, you'll
have to do better than that!"
That day was the first Hogsmeade Saturday of the year. Professor
McGonagall had made the announcement to the Gryffindor table a week
before, and the resignation in her tone had conveyed in no uncertain terms
how unwise she thought it was to allow the students to roam freely about
the village.
Ron had received an owl from his mother shorter thereafter, warning
him to be careful. Thankfully, she hadn't forbidden him, Fred, or George
from going to Hogsmeade, but she had made it clear that they were to
remain on guard at all times.
"What in the world is wrong with everyone? Has everyone turned into Mad-Eye Moody now? 'Constant vigilance!'" Ron had exclaimed
after reading the letter. "It's only Hogsmeade! What, do they think You
Know-Who's going to come swooping down out of nowhere in broad
daylight and begin randomly attacking fifth-years?"
"Honestly, Ron!" Hermione had chided him. "She's your mother! She's
only worried about you."
"Well, I'm not going to let anything ruin this weekend. I'm not going to
worry about him or anything else."
The three of them walked into the village together later that morning,
though they would have to split up as soon as they arrived, in order to do
their Christmas shopping. It was cold and gray, threatening to snow, and
they each wrapped their cloaks tightly about them as they made their way
down the lane. Once they entered the village, they agreed to meet up in
the Three Broomsticks in two hours, and they each went their separate
ways.
Harry headed straight for the bookshop and bought Ron the latest
installment of his favorite comic book, The Adventures of Martin Miggs,
the Mad Muggle. Then he found a jewelry store, where he bought
Hermione an inexpensive but very pretty silver brooch that was charmed
to never need polishing. Finally he made his way back down the lane to the
Three Broomsticks, where he met Ron and Hermione, who were weighed
down with parcels of their own. They found a table and stowed their
packages under it quickly, each trying to to keep his things out of view of
the others. It was a very pleasant afternoon, sitting around that table by
the fireplace, sipping butterbeers, and watching the first snowflakes of
the season falling outside the window. They chatted about Quidditch,
classes, and O.W.L.s, which Harry had tried to avoid thinking about.
Afterwards, they went together to Honeyduke's, where they stocked up
on Chocolate Frogs and Every-Flavor Beans, and found Fred and George
trying to sell the owner Dragon Breath Drops and Canary Cremes. The
lanky, wizened old wizard looked suspicious, but curious as well, and in
the end he bought a dozen of each.
That evening Harry, Ron, Hermione, and an ecstatic pair of Weasley
twins headed back to the castle.
"The witch at Zonko's joke shop bought two dozen of each!" George
exclaimed.
"We'll have to make more," Fred mused. "I wonder how they'll sell?"
"That's really great," Hermione said. They beamed back at her.
"I won't tell Mum you're encouraging them," Ron whispered.
***
Before they knew it, November had become December. Transfiguration
had grown much more difficult that term. Harry hadn't realized how
difficult human transfiguration was, even if you weren't attempting to
become an Animagus. It was going to take them two years to learn to
Apparate--and that was just transfiguring oneself from one place to
another, without changing form. Only after they had mastered Apparition
in their seventh year would they begin to learn how to transsubstantiate
themselves into animals.
Surprisingly, Charms had become one of Harry's least favorite classes
this term. His Disillusionment Charm was very unpromising indeed, and as
a result he spent most of each class period being given reproachful looks
by Hermione, who was already able to make herself appear to take on the
form of a tree stump.
But Potions class was by far the worst. Snape seemed to have
rediscovered his old hatred for the Gryffindors in general, and Harry in
particular. To make matters worse, he seemed bent on making up for
having taken points from Slytherin by never missing an opportunity to
publicly humiliate Neville. Neville, for his part, didn't seem to get used to
this; after Snape's inevitable rant he would always turn beet-red and
avoid the other students' stares for the rest of the class period.
"Told you he was as evil as ever," Ron muttered as they left class one
Friday in mid-December. Snape had just told Neville off for leaving his
Strength Potion on the fire too long, causing it to suddenly evaporate into
a cloud of orange steam. "Wonder why he picks on Neville?"
Harry shrugged. "Guess he's an easy target, isn't he? Snape's just a
bully. You know, we ought to teach Nevile to stand up for himself."
"Harry! That's a great idea," Hermione said excitedly.
But Neville proved quite resistant to the idea. He was deathly afraid of
Snape, and feared that standing up for himself would only make things
worse.
"It's alright, I don't mind," Neville lied when Harry and Ron approached
him in their dormitory that afternoon. "I'll just let him yell. It's easier
that way."
"He won't learn though!" Ron said. He sat down on Neville's bed. "It'll
just get worse. Trust me, I have five older brothers, I learned the hard
way--if you don't stick up for yourself, Neville, he's just going to keep
picking on you."
Neville shook his head. "I ... appreciate what you're trying to do." He
clutched his pillow and looked up at them. "But honestly, I couldn't."
He then picked up the copy of Magical Flowering Shrubs of
Britain that had been sitting on his bedside table, opened it, and began
to read. The conversation was over. Ron looked at Harry resignedly. Harry
just shrugged back at him. They left Neville, and began to change for their
evening run.
Within an hour they were trudging down to the lakeside to meet
Professor Green. It was definitely wintertime now; they had to light their
wands to find their way down the snowy path to the lake.
If the students had thought that darkness and snow would have
pardoned them from their twice-weekly runs, they were bitterly
disappointed. Professor Green wasn't put off by weather or darkness at
all; so far they had run in rain, mud, heat, and bitter cold, and Harry was
sure they would run in snow or hail too, if the weather ever happened to
take a nasty turn on a Monday morning or Friday night.
So this morning they harbored no illusions about the possibility of
getting out of their run. Everyone, even Malfoy, resignedly made their way
to the lakeside. But when they got there, it wasn't Professor Green who
greeted them.
It was Snape.
"No way!" Ron whispered to Harry as Snape surveyed the fifth-years. He wore a look of happy anticipation, as if he were about to open a
birthday present.
"Professor Green," he addressed the stunned crowd, "has most
unfortunately come down with a case of the flu." Unlike the previous
instance in which Snape had informed Harry's class of a teacher's illness
-Professor Lupin's--no note of malicious glee could be discerned from his
tone. But Harry could hear the smile in his voice when he continued. "She
was coming down here to meet you, to cancel your run. Fortunately, I
happened across her in the corridor and agreed to take her place while she
is in the hospital wing."
Whispers broke out all through the crowd.
"Silence!" Snape yelled. Harry could see him reach into a pocket and
draw out a silver whistle, which gleamed in the near-darkness, and a
stopwatch. Professor Green must have given them to him. Without a
word, he blew the whistle. The students set off hastily.
Of course, Snape didn't run with them. He did follow them at a walk,
however, and stand between them and the Forbidden Forest as they ran. When Harry, leading the crowd by a great distance, rounded the edge of the
lake that borded on the forest for a second time, he saw Snape watching
the runners and smirking sadistically.
As Harry approached the spot from which they had begun, Snape stood
there, stopwatch in hand.
"Not bad, Potter," he said as Harry passed him and stopped to catch his
breath. "But you're a bit of a show-off, aren't you? Five points from
Gryffindor."
Harry didn't even bother to look up or respond, even though this was
clearly unjust. He simply set off toward the lawn at a walk.
The darkness had deepened since they had begun their run, and Harry
could see the glowing wandtips of the rest of the fifth-years as they
neared the end of their course. He could also hear Snape taking points off
for trivial things--an untied shoelace, a dropped wand. Harry continued to
circle the lawn as more and more fifth-years joined him.
Finally only one wandtip could be seen circling the lake. It was far
behind Lavender Brown, the second-to-last finisher ("Five points from
Gryffindor for a slow finish!"). It could only be Neville.
As Neville finished, Harry watched, along with Ron and Hermione, who
had begun to walk with him. But just before Neville reached the end of the
course, his wandtip fell and was extinguished.
"Get up! Longbotton, you pathetic, worthless excuse for a wizard,"
Snape's voice boomed. At this Harry snapped. He had had enough. He
looked at Ron and Hermione, then set off toward the lakeside at a run.
"Harry, don't!" Hermione's nearly breathless voice called. But she and
Ron were far too tired after their five-mile run to go zooming back down
to the lake to help Neville. Harry ignored her.
He skidded to a halt right in front of the spot where Neville sat on the
shore, holding his knee. Snape was standing over him. Behind Neville
Harry could see, as he extended his own lit wand, a patch of ice with a
long skid mark where Neville had slipped.
Harry bent down. "You alright, Neville?" he asked.
"Potter! Leave him! He is not your concern. I will tend to him," Snape
hissed.
Harry could feel the rage boiling up inside him. He wasn't going to
leave Neville to face Snape on his own. "He is my concern!" Harry
yelled. "He's my friend! I'm going to help him up to the hospital wing."
"You will do no such thing." Snape bent down so that his face was very
close to Harry's, and spoke in a deadly whisper. "How dare you speak to
me in that tone! You will both follow me." With that, Snape turned and
began to walk up toward the castle.
"Neville, can you walk?" Harry asked.
Neville was still so out of breath he could barely speak. "Yeah," he
replied. He stood up tentatively, and began to limp after Snape.
Harry and Neville followed Snape across the lawn, up the stone steps
and through the entrance hall. They could see the other fifth-years
already sitting around the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, eating dinner. The corridors were deserted.
Once they had climbed up the main staircase and entered the second
floor corridor to the hospital wing, Snape stopped walking and rounded on
Harry and Neville.
"Pathetic," he repeated as he eyed Neville spitefully. "I pity Professor
Green her task of teaching ... you--" he said this with the utmost
loathing "--how to defend yourself against Dark magic. You!" He began to
laugh bitterly. Neville just bowed his head, ashamed. Harry was livid.
"Just like your father," Snape said. At this, Neville looked up, stunned.
"Wha - what?"
"He wasn't able to defend himself either, even though he was an Auror. The Death Eaters attacked him and your mother, and your parents were
powerless to defend themselves. And you're turning out just like them,"
Snape spat disgustedly.
Harry was beside himself--of course, he knew about Neville's parents,
but Snape didn't know that. It was a terrible violation of Neville's privacy
for Snape to say something like this in front of Harry. Not to mention the
cruelty of taunting Neville for the attack on his parents. Harry had never
had a very high opinion of Snape, but right then he was amazed that even
Snape would sink this low.
Harry opened his mouth to speak, even though he had no idea what he
was going to say. But before he had a chance to make a sound, he saw
Professor Green emerge from an adjoining hallway behind Snape.
She had steam coming out of her ears--an unfortunate side effect of
Madame Pomfrey's cure for the flu--and her eyes were wide with shock. As Harry watched, her expression changed from horrified disbelief to a
furious indignance that rivaled what Harry felt. He was sure she had heard
everything.
But Snape remained oblivious. He continued to glare at Neville, who
had tears welling up in his eyes. Professor Green crept up behind Snape
soundlessly.
"Like fathers, like sons," Snape said, and looked from Neville to Harry. "Both of you had fathers who were arrogant, incompetent fools who failed
to protect themselves fr--" Just then, a bit of steam from Professor
Green's ears wafted past Snape's head. Very slowly, he turned around to
find her staring at him, trembling with murderous rage.
Moving almost too quickly to be seen, Professor Green reached back and
slapped Snape across the face so hard that he had to catch himself to
avoid falling over.
